1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical coffee brewers and more particularly to commercial electric coffee brewers including those that have hot water faucets for dispensing hot water outside of the brew basket, and methods of brewing and of providing coffee distribution services.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the coffee industry, it is common practice for coffee distributors to provide coffee makers to customers for no charge or for a charge that is at or near the distributor's cost. Very little or no profit is derived by the coffee distributor from the sale or rental of the coffee makers that they provide to the customers. Instead, the coffee distributors hope to make their profit from the sale of coffee to the customers who are using the coffee brewers that the coffee distributors provide. Generally, to insure that they will make profit from the coffee that is made in the brewer that they provide to the customer, they enter into a “total needs” contract pursuant to which the customer, in exchange for the coffee brewer at little or no charge, agrees to purchase all of the coffee used in the brewer from the distributor who provides the brewer.
The inventors have noted that a problem arises when the customer does not “live up to the bargain” and secretly purchase some of the coffee that is used in the brewer from another source that may be less expensive or of different quality. Such other source may be able to provide the coffee at a lesser price because the other source does not need to purchase and provide a brewer to the customer for little or no costs. Consequently, the ability of the coffee distributor to recover the costs of the brewer provided to the customer from the sales of coffee may be reduced.
In addition, generally the distributor assumes the costs of maintaining the brewer with the understanding that the volume of coffee sold by the distributor for use in the brewer will be adequate to cover the expense of maintenance. However, if the actual volume is high because of use of coffee purchased outside of the contract, then the need for high volume maintenance will be proportionately greater but because not all the coffee is being purchased from the distributor the actual purchases do not justify the costs of the maintenance. Most customers may be honest and meet their contractual obligations, but some do not, and the difference may be the difference between a financially successful distributorship and a business failure. There is no practical way to bill additional amounts for the additional use of the brewer beyond the use needed to brew the brew ingredient being sold to the customer of the distributor.
Another maintenance problem encountered with coffee brewers of the type that provide hot water faucets for direct dispensing of hot water for purposes of diluting the brewed coffee at customer's requests, is that many users of the brewer will also use the hot water for many other general purposes such as for cleaning purposes and making other hot drinks such as teas, cocoa and the like. Such use, if it is far in excess of the contemplated normal use for dilution of the coffee brewed by the brewer, may result in disproportionate increased lime accumulation that will lead to increased maintenance. Again, this uncontrolled use of hot water and resultant increased costs of maintenance is not covered by an increase in coffee purchases even if all purchases are made under the contract. There is no practical way to bill additional amounts for this additional use of hot water.